School Newsletter-February 2022

                                

  • On Tuesday February 1st, Fifth and Sixth Class pupils made St. Brigid’s crosses to celebrate the Feast of the Irish patroness. Mary Jordan kindly agreed to visit the senior classroom and demonstrated the ancient art of weaving crosses from rushes. Each child had an opportunity to create a traditional St. Brigid’s cross and some attempted a more challenging Celtic design. Crosses were blessed by Fr. Gavigan and were placed in the Sacred Space of each classroom

 

  • Fr Gavigan visited the school on The Feast of Saint Blaise. He went into each of the classrooms and told the story of St. Blaise and the reason behind his association with the blessing of throats. We are very grateful to Fr Gavigan for blessing our throats on this special Feast Day.

 

  • Safer Internet Day is an EU wide initiative to promote a safer internet for everyone but especially younger people. The day provided an opportunity to have a discussion with pupils around the whole idea of online safety. A number of resources from Webwise were used in this regard. Children were reminded of the basic rules and most importantly to always tell an adult if something distressing happens while using the internet.

 

 

  • Tim Moriarty began coaching Gaelic football skills to children in Second Class and upwards. Hand passing, soloing, kicking, agility and basic fitness are the focus of the sessions.

 

 

  • Portable HEPA filters were installed in each of the classrooms. The filters remove airborne contaminants, thereby mitigating the risk of any kind of viral spread. The improvement in air quality is extremely important in areas such as classrooms, where we have a large number of people in a relatively small space. We are very satisfied with the filters and look forward to the contribution they make to the good health enjoyed by children and teachers in the school.

 

  • Following the mid-term break, restrictions relating to mask wearing and physical distancing have been removed. Schools are no longer required to maintain pods or bubbles. These changes are very welcome and will give us much more flexibility with regard to whole-school activities.

 

  • There were three winners in the School Lotto this month. Well done to Lauren Leonard, Nathan Duffy and Rian Loughney.

 

  • Frása na Míosa- Giorraíonn beirt bóthar!

 

  • The Aistear theme in Mrs Shevlin’s room was The Circus. Children had lots of fun and learned new skills throughout the month. In the skills area, pupils balanced on beams imagining that they were tightrope walkers and then threw beanbags through ‘flaming’ hoops. They also practised juggling skills with beanbags and challenged themselves with ring throwing skills also. The high point was learning magic! One group learned how to join separate clips together, another learned how to double money and another how to make an elastic band jump from two fingers to a different two fingers. Playdough was used to make circus tents, clowns, acrobats and other acts found in a circus. Pupils used their artistic skills to make clowns’ hats and to draw a clown following instructions from a video. These turned out so well and the beauty of it was that they were all so different to each other!                                                                                 In construction, tents, car parks, obstacle courses for circus animals and tightropes were built with building blocks. During role-play learners used puppets to perform circus acts.  A small stage and a tent were used and pupils really used their imaginations while listening to their friends.                                                                              A book entitled Nell and the Circus of Dreams was read by the teacher and enjoyed by the class.  Finally children worked together to write their very own poem called Junior Circus. Everybody is very proud of the rhyme and well done to the pupils on the use of imagination and cooperation in its composition!
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